Greenock and Port Juniors round-up
Gary Pews • Published 17 Feb 2012 13:30
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CLASH: Steve Dallas was booked and a Neilston player sent off after this heated bust-up last week.
ON THE SPOT: Kevin McKay was one the players to score in the shoot-out loss to St Roch's.
Glasgow Perthshire v Greenock
GREENOCK have made two new signings ahead of tomorrow's visit to Glasgow Perthshire in the Central League Cup.
Experienced defender Scott McKay has this week put pen to paper for Stevie Mooney's team.
McKay can play at right-back, centre-half or in midfield.
The versatile campaigner is well known to Mooney, having had 10 years at Petershill, where the Greenock boss spent much of his own playing career.
He comes to Greenock as a free agent after leaving Yoker Athletic at the start of this season.
Also joining Greenock this week is Luke Hemphill.
The 20-year-old striker featured for the Morton youth team last season and was recommended to the club by veteran striker John Boyd.
Mooney is delighted with his latest captures.
He said: "That takes our squad up to 20 and means there will be even more competition for places now, even on the bench.
"That might give me a headache at times, but it is no bad thing, as no-one can think they are guaranteed a start every week."
The gaffer's selection thoughts are further complicated by John Forsyth coming back into the reckoning at long last.
Forsyth has been idle since being given a four-match ban for violent conduct during Greenock's match at Dunipace way back in mid-November. But with a catalogue of postponements since then due to adverse weather conditions, it has taken the striker fully three months to serve out the ban.
Although he feels Forsyth was harshly red-carded after the incident in question, Mooney has fired a warning shot to his players.
He said: "John was unlucky that day but with the size of the squad we now have, no-one is likely to walk right back in after any kind of suspension. So the players need to be very careful not to even give a referee the opportunity to show a red card."
Meanwhile, after last week's 1-0 win at Neilston pushed Greenock up to second place in the league table, Mooney admits he would rather have been given the chance to keep their league form going, rather than having a week off league business for tomorrow's cup tie.
For most clubs, the Central League Cup represents their last chance of the season at capturing some silverware.
But it can be an unwanted distraction for teams still in the hunt for league titles or promotion.
Tomorrow's trip to Possil will be the first of two visits there before the season ends, with the clubs still to meet for their second league match. Unbeaten after 15 matches, the Glasgow side are running away with the league, so Saturday's game will be a real test for Greenock.
Mooney added: "It could set a marker for when we go back there on league business, so it is important we play to the best of our ability."
Dunipace v Port Glasgow
IF PORT Glasgow are to pick up three points tomorrow, they will have to do what no other side has managed to achieve since the end of August last year - beat Dunipace on their own patch.
The Denny club had a shaky start to the season and looked set to be one of the sides battling to avoid relegation.
But they have fared considerably better in recent months and have won their last five home games, with promotion chasing Greenock, Shettleston and Yoker Athletic among their notable scalps.
So Port boss Craig Brown is fully aware his men will need to up their game from last week's tame performance at Ravenscraig, which saw them bundled out of the West of Scotland Cup on penalties by St Roch's.
The Port will again be without Barri Stanton, still recovering from his foot fracture, while Frankie McKay reamains on the doubtful list.
McKay, whose ankle ligament damage saw him miss out on the St Roch's match, managed to resume training on Wednesday night, so a late call will determine whether he can be considered for Saturday.
Meanwhile, Alan Bryce has been missing from the Port line-up in recent weeks due to extended work commitments.
And Martin Power, who had reversed an earlier decision to quit the junior game at the start of the season, has now decided to hang up his boots.
But the Port's somewhat depleted ranks have been boosted with the addition of a new singing.
Former Whitletts and Maryhill defender David McGivern impressed during two weeks of training stints with the Port, and signed up on Wednesday. Left-sided McGivern, who earlier played for Port Glasgow Boys Club Under-21s, is the younger brother of Paul, an ex-Port Glasgow player.
Looking ahead to tomorrow's game, the Port manager said: "Dunipace have strengthened their squad since the start of the season and are certainly on a roll.
"It will be a tough game, and we will need to turn in a lot better performance than we did against St Roch's."
This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 17 Feb 12
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